Bangladesh: Secular bloggers live in fear after spate of killings

Terror suspect Abu Hamza to be extradited to US

One of Britain’s most notorious extremists, radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri (pictured), is to be deported from the UK to the US to face terrorism charges after losing an appeal against extradition, officials said Monday.

Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has lost a court appeal to be extradited to the United States to face terrorism charges, including allegedly trying to set up an al-Qaida training camp in rural Oregon, officials said Monday.

The cleric, considered one of Britain’s most notorious extremists, will be extradited to the U.S. as soon as possible, Britain’s Home Office said.

In April, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the cleric’s rights would not be violated if extradited to stand trial in the U.S. Al-Masri lodged an appeal to that ruling, but the Strasbourg, France-based, court said Monday it has rejected it.

“Today the Grand Chamber Panel decided to reject the request,” the court said in a statement. It did not give a reason for refusing the appeal.

Al-Masri, who is blind in one eye and wears a hook for a hand, is known for his fiery anti-Western and anti-Semitic outbursts. He claims he has lost his Egyptian nationality, but Britain considers him an Egyptian citizen.

He is currently serving a seven-year prison term in Britain for inciting hatred.

Al-Masri has also been linked to the taking of 16 hostages in Yemen in 1998, and to preaching jihad - holy war - in Afghanistan.